The Pharisees and scribes were grumbling because Jesus was too friendly with sinners. It is the eternal temptation of those who consider themselves good, and one of the major challenges of the Gospel: God, in Jesus, shows himself close to those

who make mistakes, even big ones! In fact Jesus does not defend himself or say the Pharisees were exaggerating; on the contrary he shows how right they were by telling the three parables of mercy.

‘Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?’

Would I be ready to give so much importance to one lost sheep out of one hundred? Yet God does exactly that.